Sunday, May 15, 2005

Carnival of the NBA #9 - Conference Semifinal edition

A Bulls season finished, the offseason yet to begin: a perfect time to check
out what the NBA bloggers are up to:

Starting off in the Western Conference, the best part of having a
Spurs-Supersonics series isn't the play on the court but the back-and-forth
banter between San Antonio Spurs Blog and the multi-author attack of
SuperSonicSoul. As of this
posting, game 4 is still yet to be played, and while the Sonics bloggers are
touting victory, they don't' sound too confident. Meanwhile Matthew from SpursBlog is incensed at the lack of fire from Tim Duncan, saying that no
matter the outcome of this series,
Duncan needs to be
more aggressive:

Allow me to simplify: if Tim Duncan does not drop 30 on SEA come Sunday the
Spurs aren't winning a championship.

For the other West series, relative newcomer Rising Suns has been blogging up a
storm during these playoffs. I highly recommend checking him out. Rebel Ballin' of the
MVN handles the Dallas
perspective of this fast-paced series.

In the Eastern Conference,
multi-media
superstar David Eisenberg of Crazy from the Heat has to
be pleased that his Heat have swept the Wizards (almost makes me happy that
the Bulls didn't win and get a similar thrashing) even with Shaq missing games
3 and 4:

The Miami Heat have now proven that they are
one of the four best basketball teams in the world, a minimum requirement for
this season to not be considered a disaster. When everything started, most
people had them behind the Pistons and Pacers until they proved something, and
that was upgraded to Conference Finals by the Detroit Riot. The Heat are
undefeated in these playoffs, have won 11 in a row, and have another nice
little rest before facing the winner of the Detroit-Indiana blood war. Any one
of Miami, Detroit, Indiana, San Antonio, Phoenix, and Dallas could still win
the title, but no one is sitting as pretty as the Heat.

Left to pick up the pieces for the Wizards are Les Bullez, who preaches
perspective and optimism for the future after getting officially bounced.

Another must-read newcomer is The Pistons (with
now-appropriate color scheme!), which covers the defending champs' drive for
the repeat. Not only that, but with daily posts he's tackling the entire
league. Becoming an every-day read for me.

What is even more sickening about last nights
game was the bickering done by the Piston players and coaches after the game.
Yes, Reggie Miller did use the off arm to free up some space. So what? Anyone
that watched last nights game knows the Pistons deserved to lose and have no
business blaming the officiating for their dismal performance. The Pistons
were down right embarrassing for most of the game.

Maybe we can't get KG and Ray Allen might not
be the answer. But why can't we get someone great? I won't throw around any
more names (today), but imagine Paul with another great player? We have the
trade assets to do something big. The Heat rolled the dice and ended up with
Shaq to go with Wade. The Rockets pulled the trigger and now have McGrady to
go with Yao. We need to find a team in flux, looking for quantity over
quality, and meet their price.

I know Kurt doesn't like being the all-Phil Jackson blog, so Forum Blue and Gold not
only looks at the probability of a return of Phil, but examines
other
coaching candidates as well. Be sure to also check out Kurt'sblog for his
Laker end-of-season report cards, by position. Similar report cards for the
Warriors are being done at The City.

It was fun taking over the carnival again, hopefully after reading it you've
found enjoyable NBA blogs that you may not have been reading before. I'll be
sure to let everyone know where it'll be stopping next. For submissions or
volunteers to host the Carnival, email
me.